Warrior's Weakness
by The unwritten promise
Summary: Bite me, and I'll break your heart.
1. Prologue

The dusk scattered across the sky, the clouds laying ripped between the veins of sunlight as the amber glow casted shadows across the brittle winter woods. On its journey it stumbled across the small village with the stone houses and the surrounding farm land, invading every crack and crevice as the sun sank and the moon began its dark invasion.

The village itself was bursting with life, filled with people that held moral values as high as the Gods they believed in. The people were fickle, stubborn and simple minded, set in their ways and determined to continue their way of life through the ages. Secluded by the white striped woods that remained scattered by the thick winter snow blanket, they had only themselves to rely on, and so they had come to create traditions that benefited their people, extracting a customary way of life that forced people to remain within the village. Never allowing them to leave.

But, as in every town, there are those that defy the system and challenge the unbreakable rules of society. There is, and will forever be, poverty, deceit, and secrets that bend around every corner. And in that sense the old village of Cogsend was just as normal as every other community the world harboured with one exception. The secret they held taunted the elders, spread fear through young and old hearts alike, caused wildfires that spread with misery, and in itself remained a shroud of mystery that they themselves had set in place. Trapped by their own insufferable insecure subconscious greed.

It is in this village, and in this era, that our tale begins, and ends, with a common thief, a burning amber sky, and a dying love. For when the sun rises, and the blood runs hot and warm, it is the people that cry to the sky, begging for a resolution as they offer up their tribute. But when the moon falls, and the howls fly free, the wolves descend, and the blood turns cold and crisp, staining the snow.

A wolf, the people know, has no mercy. He is quick. He is cunning. And he is fast. He is determined, and he will hunt until the morning light begins to wake, and even then, the next night, he will begin his hunt again. He is not the King of the jungle. He does not boast his status to his subjects with a roar before he finishes them of with a quick bite. He is the dagger in the night. The unwanted glint in the shadows and the chill in the wind. He is the darkness, and the darkness is him, and through it all sad silver eyes will turn as cold as steel and sink their jaws like the shimmering slick lick of a burning flame.

But of course, there are more dangerous things lurking in the woods than just wolves. In a world of fear, obscurity and madness, the wolves are the last of the worries for the people of Cogsend. But, perhaps, that is a tale for another time. For now, I am going to take you back to a time when the world had yet to feel the warmth of freedom. Back to a time when all people knew was the burden of fright in a world were nightmares were real and love was nothing if not a distant dream. Back to a time when the laws of nature were unbound and uncontrollable.

Welcome, dear reader, to a tale you will not forget.

* * *

My revamp for Warrior's Weakness. Hope you all enjoyed the prologue :) Sorry to everyone who reviewed the old version before I took it down. I tried to reply but the site wouldn't let me :(


	2. Chapter 1

The taste of blood was thick on his lips. Racing through the woods, his tongue lolling of the side of his mouth as his breath frosted in the cold air, he felt the taste of freedom. Adrenaline pulsed through him, making his fur shuddering as he passed by the grey winter pines that were dead and dying. The ground was hard under his large paws, and he moved over the land with grace unnatural to man or beast.

Sharp emerald eyes narrowed as the sound of a forlorn howl echoed downhill to him. Stopping, he turned his nose up to the air and folded his ears back. The scent of the others was closer. They would be upon him soon if he stopped moving. He needed to reach the man village; to claim sanctuary under his half-form.

Listening to the screech of another howl, he picked up his paws and started off again. Racing between the pines, he jumped fallen logs with ease and moved with the silence of a buck; so quiet even the frozen, rotting leaves under his paws failed to make a noise beneath him. As he ran the grey fur of his coat dragged into the mud and became soiled with the damp earth from the soft snowfall. Finally he hit the bottom of the long downhill slope, and he realised with a soft whine that the snow had collected so deep that it reached the top of his legs. No longer could he run. Instead he pounced through the snow, leaping through it and leaving large smudges where he had fallen and stumbled in his haste to escape those that chased him.

It was five more minutes of leaping before he could see the first stone chapel that marked the beginning of the man village. The large bell domed atop the cross like a beacon wading off the spirits of the forest that lingered in the snow. Axel's wolf lips turned upwards into a solid smirk.

_Stupid humans, thinking they can ward off the bite of wolves with bells, chimes and sickly superstitions. They've all turned daft with the frost!_

Another howl sent shivers down him and he knew his pack was close. He had to hurry. Soon they would be upon him and if he didn't reach the village the other wolves would tear him apart. He needed to get to the man beasts. His panting breath and the red hot sticky blood was sending sharp pangs through his chest, setting his lungs on fire. Everything ached. Everything hurt. He was cold. Tired. If he stopped the frost would set inside his bones and when the wolves came for him he would be unable to move.

He was so close he could actually see the wooden door marked with the three silver rings – the mark to ward off him and his kind. The idea that a piece of silver would stop him lodged a laugh deep in his throat, and when it was released it came out as more of a snarl than a bark of joy. The smell of man flesh raged inside his nostrils and he could hear them talking. They were whispering, murmuring in prayer for protection against the disgusting creatures of the wood; creatures like him.

He didn't see the lookout atop the church until a shout broke his eardrums and caused him to whine. Under the bright glare of day the church bell chimed thrice, each one shaking the ground Axel ran against as more howls brought death against his back. Trapped between the two, he made his choice.

The bell chimed louder and suddenly the men were no longer talking but shouting. They screamed, howling as loud as his old brothers behind his back as the pack snarled behind him. They wanted blood, his blood, just as he had once taken theirs. But it had been an order. He had been forced to take blood then, now he needed something else. Now he needed protection. Protection against those that chased him.

The door with the three silver rings was thrown wide. In the wind it banged back and forth against the stone walls of the church and men seemed to burst from it like an avalanche. They came prepared. In their hands, clutched tightly with white knuckles and barred teeth, were pitchforks and rugged rusty swords and cleavers and axes of all shapes and sizes with the occasional rifle making itself present in rich hands. Each one of them meant for him.

Baring his teeth, the snarl was from Axel's mouth before he could prevent it. He charged them and they roared back, holding their ground with sweaty brows as they screamed back to the boys in the church to protect the women and children. The doors slammed shut and Axel's eyes narrowed. A ferocious snarl escaped him and Axel jumped the hoard of men. Leaping through the air, the flesh with heartbeats below him ducked, cowered, and moved aside with cries beneath his frame. The pitchforks were thrust upwards and the axes were swung, but all of them missed the sensitive underbelly of the wolf that dove over them.

Axel landed hard on the other side of them, his paws skidding in the snow as his chest heaved so much that he could hear his heartbeat in his ears. He tensed, his shoulders staggering forwards against the impact before the screaming echoed about him again. He threw his ears back to hear the howls of his old pack and knew they were close. His eyes narrowed on a pitchfork that thrummed in the ground beside his head and without a whisper of warning he was sprinting forwards once more.

He had made it. He had done what no wolf had done for thirteen years. He had entered the man village. He had broken the code of the wolf and tread upon human soil. Now he had to stay alive. Another impossible task.

_I just need a safe place; a secluded place. If I can just find someplace quiet I can change and they won't even notice the difference. I can hide out till the heat dies down and make my way south._

The stone buildings sprang up about him like the fresh flowers of spring. Each one had a barred door and closed wooden shutters. The small gardens outlined with wood to mark territory boundaries were filled with chickens and sheep and cattle, all of them making his mouth water as he passed them. But he couldn't stop. Not while two sets of beasts were out for his hide.

He staggered and face-planted the ground as something sharp tore into his left shoulder. Shaking his head, the snow fell from his nose in thick flakes, and he looked to the ground behind him. Reaching back, he yanked the pitchfork from his shoulder with enough venom to rival that of Hell. The snow was stained red and his fur began to leak with warm droplets of crimson as the pitchfork landed in the snow. Picking himself up, he yelped as the injury tore through him. Hobbling forwards, he needed to find a place to hide fast.

Turning right, he lifted his paw from the ground and limped down the large stone archway. The stone curved and his eyes lit up in the darkness as he followed the empty passageway for what felt like miles. Finally the stone uncurled to the open space before him. The snow had not quite managed to overtake the stone cobbles here, and in between the few bricks that had sustained the snow weeds grew like wildfire. A loan house stood in darkness, the fence surrounding it made of jagged metal that looked rusted and well in need of replacing. The overhanging stone surrounding it isolated it and prevented it from gaining any neighbours as the wall stood as high as the two-storey house itself.

Behind him the sounds died slightly before they picked up and the howls seemed to penetrate the brick. But there was a different sound that caught his attention. It came from beside him, from up and over the wall to his right. Baring his fangs once more, Axel backed away hesitantly into a corner, the fur on his back up and on end. He should have listened to Demyx. He knew coming here had to be a bad idea, but he just couldn't stay with the pack any longer.

The sound grew louder and with it came a series of grunts and a large range of cursing. Snow drifted down from over the top of the stone wall and a boot emerged over the side. The rest of the foot came hesitantly before a body fell down from the top of the wall and landed hard against the stone steps. Axel flicked an ear up hesitantly, still growling in the corner as the figure rubbed at his lower back and groaned painfully.

A black hood was lowered to reveal soft blond hair and pale skin. The neck-scarf covering the youth's face was pulled down to his chin and a ragged breath was given out to the frost of the winter air. With eyes tightly closed, the youth spoke, and judging by his voice and looks alone Axel would have guessed him to be no older than seventeen.

"Damnit, Hayner! You dropped me!"

"I did not!" The voice came from over the wall. Axel faintly heard the sound of a scoff followed by the same voice. "You let go of me-"

"Whatever," the blond on the floor mumbled, waving the words away with his hand as if they were wind. "Just throw down the loot and let's get inside before they come back from church."

The blond stood and another human appeared atop the wall. His eyes were a hazel brown, his hair spiked up slightly as his hood blew down in the wind, but the scarlet neck-scarf covered the rest of his face, masking it from Axel's eyes. Hayner heaved a sewn sack forwards and began to hand it down, his eyes narrowed ever so slightly as the blond on the floor reached upwards.

And then Hayner's eyes found the threatening emerald's glaring at him from the corner of the small secluded garden. His eyes widened in horror and his hand froze harder about the clinking sack. His breath came to him as if through a solid vice, and Axel could hear him whispering as the blond on the floor reached up on tiptoes, still short of the bag.

"Roxas! Roxas, don't move!"

"What? Hayner, what are you blabbering about? Just pass me down the bag before-"

"Turn around. Slowly, though! Don't startle it."

Roxas heaved a heavy sigh. "Don't startle wh…?" He trailed off. Turning around, he spotted the bleeding ice wolf snarling in the corner, its fur on end and its teeth jagged and sharp. "Holy-"

"Just pass me up your hand. I'll pull you back up." Hayner whispered, pulling the bag back up and reaching his hands down once more.

Roxas froze, his hands halfway down by his side. He couldn't breathe. The air had suddenly turned so cold it burned his lungs and had him choking on his words. Hayner pushed himself further down so half his body was hovering over the edge, his feet entangled about a series of roots to ensure he wouldn't fall as he reached down desperately. But he was still a foot short of Roxas. Backing up, Roxas felt his ankles hit the back of the stone wall and his heart leapt into his mouth. He spread his hands out so they reached against the brick, but as he tried to raise them they seemed to weigh a tonne and he found himself clenching his jaw as jade eyes refused to leave him.

"Roxas, quit playing about and grab my hand before that _thing_ tears a chunk out of you!"

All three of them snapped their heads to the passageway as the battle cries of men broke through the stone. Axel's wolf eyes turned back to the boys before him. They were terrified. Their bodies reeked of fear, but there was no malice. He took his first step forward, still holding his left forepaw above the snow to prevent the satin stains marking his trail. Roxas seemed to sink further into the stone, his eyes widening as he gulped. His fingers curled about the brick, and he watched the snarling wolf approach.

But Axel never made it. Instead of approaching the blond, as had been his attention, he felt himself drop to the snow. A whine escaped him, a noise he had been trying hard to swallow and hide, and his eyes closed in pain. He couldn't fight to keep the wolf form up any longer. He felt it slip, felt the fur fade away and his senses dull greatly as he changed. The process was painful, but after so many transactions of a similar kind he had grown numb to the formation of human limbs and the change in senses and muscles. The wolf dropped from him, and he found himself staggering in the snow as the chill surrounded him. Without the protection of his fur coat, the cold bit into him harshly, and beneath the ragged, rough-spun wool clothing he wore, his wound wept and bled openly, pooling against the fabric. Down on one knee in the snow, he ground his teeth together and waited. He couldn't move any further. His fate came down to the two boys, his hounding pack and the blood thirsty men that chased him.

Roxas stayed still. The male before him was looked to be nineteen years old, but he knew that for a wolf the years of time were much different. Jade eyes remained tightly closed as a hand reached up to grip the wounded shoulder, the strongly defined jaw clenched tightly. The tall frame seemed to be hunched over in crippling fear and the fire red hair was the same colour as the stained satin snow.

"Roxas, dude, get up here now! Come on, while it's down and out!"

Roxas ignored Hayner. Finding his numb feet, he took a step out on the soft snow, listening to it crunch beneath his boot. Axel heard it too, and his eyes shot open. He glared at the youth, and Roxas froze, holding his hands up defensively.

"I'm not…I'm not gonna hurt you, okay? Just…" He started forwards again, carefully stepping on the snow.

"Roxas, you're insane!" Hayner hissed, still hanging over the side. "Get back here before I have to pry you from that things jaws!"

"That _thing_ has a name." Axel snapped. His voice hurt, and he realised just how long it had been since he had last used it.

Hayner ran his hands through his hair, his eyes narrowing as he spoke through his protective neck-scarf. "Roxas, this is just plain creepy, dude! The council is gonna be here any second and then what? How do we explain we're in league with a wolf?!"

Roxas continued to ignore him. Making his way towards Axel, he tentatively reached out his hand before he retracted it quickly. "You're not gonna…you're not gonna bite me, right?"

"Kid, do I look like I'm in any kind of state to be biting you?" Axel snapped, the blood flowing over his fingers as he panted heavily. "Besides, human meat doesn't taste nice. Too chewy."

Roxas held back a gag at the comment. Swallowing his fear, he reached out and gently grabbed Axel's upper arm. His finger's closed about the flesh, and although Axel growled, he didn't do anything else. Roxas waited a few seconds, carefully moving around the side of the teen before him. When Axel made no move to attack and Roxas realised he still had his hand intact he carefully tightened his grip and bent down, throwing the arm about his shoulder and lifting. The grunt escaped both of them as the redhead was raised up.

Atop the stone wall, Hayner watched with an open mouth and wide eyes as Roxas began to make his way towards the stone house. "Roxas!" He whispered, his hands clenching into fists atop the wall as fear gripped him. "What the hell are you doing? Don't take it in there!"

"_It_ is wounded." Roxas mumbled, staggering slightly under Axel's weight. "The council is coming and we can't risk being caught. We'll hide him. When the council's gone we can make sure he leaves, but right now we have to get out of the open. All of us." He aimed the last part specifically at his friend and nodded towards the door. "Now hurry up and get the door. There isn't much time."

Hayner mumbled a pretty string of curses and reluctantly climbed down with the loot. Landing in the snow on all fours, he straightened up and jogged over to the door as the shouts grew louder. Completely avoiding Axel and Roxas, he reached into his pocket and dragged out a key. Tucking it into the lock, he turned it hastily and moved aside as if burned.

Roxas pushed the door open, moving inside with difficulty. Axel didn't take note of the inside as he made his way over to where Roxas led him. He heard Hayner curse in the darkness before light illuminated them, and he guessed a lamp must have been lit. He was led under an arch to the back before he was propped up against a wall. Inhaling deeply between clenched teeth, he watched as Roxas pulled aside a rug to reveal a hidden door and latch beneath. The door was pulled wide, and Roxas straightened up, looking at Axel with wary eyes as the men approached closer.

"Rox, you might wanna hurry up, bro!"

Roxas nodded, turning from where Hayner waited beside the window and back to Axel. "You have to go down there."

"Down there?" Axel repeated, shaking his head. The space looked tight and confined, and he hated the way the beams of the wood ran straight down like the bars of a cage. "You've gotta be kidding me."

Roxas' glare hardened. "No, either you go down there now or they come in here and we'll be hanged whilst they lodge three silver bullets in your heart. Which would you prefer?"

Axel rolled his eyes and descended the steps. As he reached the bottom of the creaking wood the scent of damp earth became overwhelming and he wrinkled his nose against it. Unlike above, there was no light, and cobwebs seemed to hang in every corner as tipped barrels seemed to sink further under the ground and into the mud. Glancing back up at the steps, his hand still holding tight to his shoulder, Axel watched as Roxas glanced about nervously.

"Dude, they're here!" Axel heard Hayner whisper. The sound of jostling metal rang through the stone house and Roxas caught the heavy bag Hayner threw to him.

Roxas tossed the bag down into the dark, not caring as it landed hard against the floor and something inside it shattered. Axel glared at it as if it was an enemy, moving further away from it and backing himself into a corner away from the light. Roxas brought his finger to his lips in a motion of silence before the door was lowered.

Sliding the lock in place, Roxas lowered the rug, unfurling it as he did so. He whispered over to Hayner to give him a hand and immediately his friend was by his side. Together they pulled at the large oaken table, dragging it across the floor and grunting heavily as their backs were pulled with the weight.

"This is insane!" Hayner kept whispering, the sweat on his brow collecting in neat droplets. "We're gonna die because you wanna keep a pet wolf-"

"Quiet, Hayner! They'll hear." With the table set in place Roxas turned to the next task at hand.

He ripped the neck-scarf from his frame and pulled the black wool jumper and the tucked cloak beneath upwards. Running over to the corner of the room, he lifted the lid of a particularly old barrel and dumped the clothes in the pool of black, algae-infested water beneath. Turning to Hayner, he held up his hands and caught the clothes thrown at him, dunking them in the bowl as well before he returned the lid and listened to the people outside hammer on the door vigorously.

Roxas smacked Hayner lightly upside the head to stop him muttering on his way to the door. Quietly he hissed at him to go out back and fetch a chicken. Hayner didn't question his motives. Grateful to leave the scene, he made his way to the back exit, taking extra time to go around the table that was hiding the wolf beneath.

Roxas turned the door handle, and no sooner had the click been heard than the door was thrown wide and smashed back against the stone wall. Roxas winced as he was picked up by the collar of his green shirt and thrown back against the wall roughly, struggling against the cold hands that held him. An influx of people flooded the house and Roxas kicked out as he was held high in the air, gritting his teeth as the sound of thundering boots hurt his ears.

Cold grey eyes hardened and silver hair gleamed by the candlelight. Sephiroth's smirk was cold but graceful and the laugh that bit into the world came with a shiver and a hint of malice.

"Well, well, Roxas, who'd have thought to see you here of all places? Not the usual place you and yours like to collect, is it?"

Roxas kicked out with his feet once more and scratched at the hand that held him tight, but Sephiroth refused to let go. A false smile found his lips and Sephiroth's grip tightened. "Me? No, you've got it all wrong, Sephiroth! Honestly, me and Hayner hang here all the time. You know, because we own the place-"

"So you say, however the council has yet to decide the fate of this miserable household."

"What's to decide? It was left to Hayner in his grandfather's will. By rights he owns this house-"

"By right him and the rest of your little group have failed to partake in this council and village since you became orphans nine years ago!" Sephiroth's snarl slipped into a smirk. "But I digress, we are here for another matter. There is a wolf in the village."

"A-a wolf?" Roxas laughed, watching as two of the main members of the council entered. They never looked his way as they continued further in. "You're joking, right?"

"Do I look like the type of man you should be insulting with a careless tongue, Roxas?"

"You don't look like the kind of man that can take criticism, if that's what you're asking."

Sephiroth laughed. "You have a smart mouth, Roxas. It could be the end of you if you don't keep it in line." He threw Roxas down and made his way further into the old abandoned house, his nose crinkling ever so slightly as he snatched a lit torch from a villager. Rubbing at his throat, Roxas followed, listening carefully.

"As I have already said, a wolf is present. There has not been a wolf for many, many moons, and I fear that this may only be the start of the onslaught." He turned the torch to where Roxas was following, lifting it high to search the corners of the room as his men scoured ever shadow deliberately. The flames licked at the oiled rag, intimidating the darkness. "The wolf was wounded by a pitchfork from the locals by the churchyard. I myself have a series of silver bullets and a plaque waiting for its sorry head in my home. Now, where is it?"

Roxas paused as Hayner entered the room from the back entrance, a chicken held firmly in his hands. It clucked and squawked mercilessly, scratching at his arms as he held it by the throat and gave Roxas a helpless look. Roxas rubbed at his throat sharply, hoping Hayner caught the message before he was forced to turn his eyes back to Sephiroth.

"How would I know where it is?"

Sephiroth's smile fell and he handed the torch to the local smith. The man was blond and had eyes like gems of the ocean, his skin so pale the snow outside seemed grey in comparison. Roxas had never seen the smith smile, and he had only rarely heard him speak, but he knew his name was Cloud. He lived alone on the outskirts of the village, unafraid of the wolves and other nasty beasts that lurked in the forest, but it did no good for his trade and business. Just because Cloud was unafraid of wolves, it didn't mean that the rest of the villagers weren't. On the contrary, they found Cloud slightly mad, and often called for him to come down to them rather than seek him out themselves.

"Do not insult me, Roxas. The blood trail ends here and there is a smudge in the snow outside followed by paw prints. The evidence is clear and if you are harbouring a wolf you will hang! Now, where is it?"

"Ohhhhh…" Roxas paused for a moment, tapping his foot against the stone floor and smiling as he thought up a plan. He heard the clean slice of a meat cleaver before the chicken was silenced, and Roxas was glad Hayner had picked up on his hint. They could have been in deep trouble otherwise. "That!" Roxas laughed, brushing the subject away in a hope to dismiss it. "The blood is from the chickens. Hayner's been chopping them up all day for harvest. We don't have enough feed for all of them, and we're thinking about moving to the Old Farm, so we can't take all of them. The blood is probably from when he went to fetch the next bird."

Sephiroth glanced over to where Hayner was stood at the table, the end of the chicken laying uselessly against the stained surface as a splatter of blood cast itself up his throat and cheek. Hayner waved the meat cleaver in Sephiroth's direction as proof before he used it to scrape the head of the chicken to a side. Sephiroth growled and his stare hardened. "That may be so, but what about the dint in the snow."

"Oh, my bad, I fell earlier." Roxas mumbled, rubbing at the back of his neck nervously and offering a sheepish smile.

"There were no human tracks."

"Um…I jumped and fell?" Roxas offered with a shrug of his shoulders, gulping as Sephiroth's eyes narrowed devilishly.

"You jumped…and you fell?" Sephiroth repeated extremely slowly, judging each word as he said it.

"No, of course not…" Roxas' laughter died out slowly and he snapped his fingers, smirking once more. "I know, fresh snow fall! That's why there's no tracks. The snow must have covered 'em."

"There are wolf tracks out there."

"Those could be dog prints." Hayner offered and Roxas thanked him for his input.

"Those are too big to be dog tracks." Cloud mumbled, offering his rare speech to the open rooms as men continued to search the house.

Roxas cursed Cloud silently as the man turned the torch and continued to glance about at the hiding shadows. He faintly heard men venture upstairs and out the back as Hayner answered for him once more.

"You sure? I seen a pretty big dog the other day. Looked sorta like a wolf, but it had a collar on. Guess it could have been some weirdo's pet."

"I have seen no big dogs in the village." Sephiroth whispered, continuing with his patrol about the rooms.

He stalked like a predator looking for prey, as if he knew there was something of value within the room and he was eager to sniff it out. Roxas stayed by Cloud's side, watching as Sephiroth neared closer and closer to where Hayner shuffled nervously with the dead chicken above the table. The men returned from their travels about the house and waited by the door patiently, most of them farmers with axes and shovels in hands but others more professional and wealthy with gleaming, glossy rifles.

The hairs on the back of Roxas' neck stood on end and he watched with his heart in his mouth and his chest heaving as Sephiroth neared the table. Each footstep brought a husky whisper to the stone and Hayner's sweaty forehead came under close scrutiny. Sephiroth stopped by the table, taking note of the dead chicken and the blood on the floor as well as Hayner's erratically heaving chest. A smirk came to his lips and his mouth opened, about to speak before-

"Sephiroth!"

The door was thrown wide until it banged off the stone walls once more. Hayner and Roxas jumped with some of the other villagers as Cid, the owner of the Bare Back Inn further in the village, rushed into the room, a smile dashed across his face. Panting and out of breath, he held a rifle in hand (normally used to fend off the local drunken punters) and pointed back towards the door.

"By the Twin Rivers! Aerith, she said she saw it! Clear across town!"

Sephiroth turned to him and Hayner heaved a sigh of relief as he was cast out of the heat of the spotlight. "You are sure of this?"

"Sure am. Tifa said she saw it too. Big creature. Like a shaggy dog that stands half as high as a man grown, fangs that gleam white and eyes full of bloodlust."

"That sounds like our beast!" Sephiroth roared, marching back to the doorway and snatching the torch from Cloud once more. "After it, men!"

The villagers filed out and ran after the wolf by the Twin Rivers. Cloud and Cid left with them, hastily joining the jog in a rush to be one of the first to catch the demon that had entered their midst. Sephiroth hung about lazily for a moment longer, watching the room with searing eyes before he settled on Roxas and Hayner once more. A thick, brazen smirk came to his lips as he walked back towards the door.

"Do not think I have forgotten about you, boys. Something is not right here…I can smell it. As soon as I'm done skinning this dog, I'll be coming back for you."

The two watched Sephiroth slam the door behind him as he went. They waited for a long lingering second, sucking in and holding the cold breath of the winter frost before they swallowed hard and turned to each other. Hayner was white as Roxas rubbed the edge of his throat. Glancing down, he backed away from the table that held the dead chicken and shivered as a growl came from below like a deep rumbling roar.

"Roxas…Roxas, we have to get rid of it."

"And what would you suggest we do?"

"I don't know, but Sephiroth is suspicious! Dude, he won't rest until he has it hanging on his wall. We have to get it out of here-"

"How?" Roxas asked, making his way over to a chair and sinking into it. The frost bit into him, and he was pretty sure the temperature had begun to drop with the approaching darkness.

Hayner thought hard, watching the blood of the chicken drip steadily down to the stone. "We could just leave it here. We could run away and-"

"And leave the others to pick up the mess." Roxas finished bitterly. "If we go now and leave that wolf down there the others would be hunted down and pay the price. You really want that on your conscience?"

"It's nothing they wouldn't do to us!" Hayner growled, stepping carefully around the table and joining Roxas in the seat opposite. Together they stared at the rug beneath the table hypnotically in the old rickety building, unable to comprehend just what it was they had done.

"Maybe Seifer would, but I'm pretty sure the girls wouldn't. And what about Sora? He wouldn't drop something like this on us."

Hayner placed his head in his hands and groaned openly, drumming his feet rapidly in quick stamping motions. "That's because people like Sora don't get into situations like this, Roxas! It's always us. Us they send out to steal the heavy stuff, the expensive stuff, the stuff that could cost us our hands or our lives-"

"It's because we're the best at it, Hayner. Would you send a farmer to do a smith's job? Or a mother to work the mill? We do what we do because we're good at it."

"Yeah? Well I don't wanna be good at it no more. I'm sick of it, Rox. I've…I've been thinking. For a while now, to be fair. The woods, we could make it through-"

"We'd die before we made the first mile."

"You don't know that!" Hayner stood and pushed the chair away from him, booting it viciously. "We don't know what's out there! For all we know this town could just be a bunch of scaredy-cats telling ghost stories to keep us here. We'll never know until we leave-"

"Hayner, where do you think this wolf came from? The well? The school? The church?" Roxas laughed sarcastically. "It came from the woods, Hayner. It's living proof that there are more of these things out there. If the elders were telling the truth about the wolves, who's to say they aren't telling the truth about everything else? I like my life, Hayner. It's not honest, but it pays its way. Why isn't that enough for you?"

"Because I'm sick of being dishonest, Rox! I'm tired of taking orders and runnin' for my life! You know what I want? You know what I really, really want? I want to go beyond that forest. I want to make it right out to the other side and build me a little house by a stream full of fish where the sun is always shinin'." He laughed and placed his hands on his hips, licking his lips at the thought. "We could eat fish for three of the year's four seasons. We'd keep chickens and cattle and goats and when the river freezes over in the winter we can heat up a fire and play out in the snow all day long without ever having to worry about havin' to work. The cellar will always be full and we can eat and eat and eat until we're blue in the face, and then, when we're all full up, we can sell what's left and make an honest little profit. There won't never be no trouble, and no nosy council coming to take away our profits and snoop on our business and take our chickens and cattle as payment protection. It'd be perfect, Rox. We could do it!"

Roxas shook his head. He had pictured the image well, and it was a nice dream…but that was all it was. "Hayner, you're not thinking straight."

"No, Rox, I am! For the first time, I'm-"

"Sounding deluded. Hayner, you won't get past those woods. Hundreds have tried. None of them ever make it back."

"Maybe the other side is so nice they don't wanna come back, Rox. Think about it. What other explanation could there be?"

"They could be dead." Roxas muttered, his eyes staring hard at the wooden hatch beneath the rug. "They could be lying face-down in the mud with wolves and worse eating at their corpses. I'm not happy with my life, Hayner, not really, but I'm satisfied with it. I think you should be, too."

Hayner sighed and his shoulders stooped inwards. His spirit seemed slightly crushed, and Roxas instantly regretted being the one to break it. "Maybe…but we can't keep doing this, Rox. People are noticing things are going missing, and we can't be doing this when we're old men. We need a backup plan, Rox. We could do it. We really could."

"Yeah…maybe one day." Roxas humoured his friend and was rewarded with a smile. "But not today, Hayner. Today we have a bigger problem."

Hayner followed Roxas' stare and met the worn rug with distasteful eyes and a wrinkled nose. "Right…almost forgot about that. So, what should we do with it? I don't have a gun or any silver…"

"We're not killing it, Hayner. We're taking it with us."

"Say what?! Are you mental?"

Roxas smiled and got up from his seat, making his way across to the table with soft footsteps. "Maybe I am. Just a little bit to put up with you and your mad dreams if nothing else. Now come give me a hand with this table; it's damn heavy!"

* * *

Wow...it's been five months since I last updated this story...sorry, guys! Hope anyone who read enjoyed, feedback is welcomed and thankyou to all my awesome reviewers!


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